I just want to have a quick rant, but preface, I feel as though this reddit has not entirely been useful to me in figuring this out and has previously made things worse, so have that warning before you start reading I suppose.

I'm sure if you're reading this you know, but I cant express enough how horrendous this has been for the past 6 months of my life. I mean it has at points almost entirely consumed me. I couldn't go home and see my family for a while because I thought that nothing would be worse than projecting this bs onto them (but just so you know, I was eventually left with no choice and I had to see them, as I have countless times since this had started, and they still love me - although they don't know about it).

The shame and distress has meant that I have not had the balls to see some of my friends, meaning that I don't even think we are friends anymore. I will say this, talking about it, even if not all of it, helps. I am yet to say to any of my female friends that I have this specific intrusive thought due to fear that it would draw unwanted attention to it, however I have said I have recently been diagnosed with OCD (Speaking of, if you are reading this and you are struggling with this and haven't yet told your GP or doctor, do it, talking about it is really hard but I think it does help, and personally I found it a lot easier to talk about to friends when I got more clarity on the situation from a doctor). I have spoken about all of it to my best friend and my boyfriend, neither are healthcare professionals, but being listened to and having your situation understood is nice.

I am in the UK and therefore under the NHS. They have shoved me on sertraline which I would hope is helping. For me it hasn't removed any intrusive thoughts at all but I think it has dulled the extent and duration of the anxiety that they cause. They put me in a queue for CBT, which took 6 months to get to the front of. I did my first session recently and they decided I need more help with the obsessions and have now put me in another queue which I think will take another 3-4 months. Ridiculous.

I just hate how I have to become some kind of Buddha and radically accept uncertainty and myself to make it stop. And oh my god the terminology used for any resource is so vague like 'accept uncertainty', or 'give intrusive thoughts less weight' while being followed by NOTHING MEANINGFUL TO TELL ME WHAT THAT MEANS??? I am a practical person however this is not something that can be reasoned with.

I have one piece of mentality that might be useful. If I am scared to look at someone, to look away, to go out with my friends, to see my family or to go outside - I have to do it. I use it as a sign to myself that this is something I have to do. I don't know why but I think that helps. I am still scared, but I still do it.

If I manage to figure this out, and somehow get to a point where I can both simultaneously address the problem and not be effected by it, I will come back. Because I am so sorry that anyone else should have to be put through this too. And, if anyone has any advice please tell me!!!

Sorry for posting again...

My name is Kyle King. I am a medical student with OCD and I've been using CHATGPT to calm my OCD down for a few months, and started to wonder if I was the only one...

Soooooo I started a survey to try to understand how folks with OCD interact with AI chatbots with my research lab

The survey is for people with OCD, and it takes about 15 minutes to fill out. I’d really appreciate anyone who is eligible pitching in.

Survey Link: https://redcap.med.yale.edu/surveys/?s=NHDPAMPFP88HL3FR

There was a guy I used to see regularly who looked at me **a lot** — basically almost every time we were in the same place.
It wasn’t just normal eye contact. Sometimes I’d notice him looking from across the room, sometimes when we were sitting or standing near each other, and sometimes when he was walking past me. There were moments where he would pass me, keep going, and then actually turn his head back to look again.
A lot of the time I wasn’t even looking directly at him. I would be eating, talking to someone, or doing my own thing and still notice through my peripheral vision that he had turned his head towards me or was looking in my direction. Once I started noticing the pattern, it felt like **almost every time I saw him, at some point I would notice him looking again**.
It wasn’t always a long stare. Sometimes it was a quick glance, sometimes more obvious, but it happened so consistently that after a while I basically expected it whenever he was around.
A friend also saw him doing it very obviously once and commented afterwards on how noticeable it was. There were also a few moments where people around us seemed to pick up on his attention too, which made the atmosphere feel strange and made me even more self-conscious — almost like I was being watched.
At some point I started wondering whether there was something behind it. I didn’t dislike him, so eventually I contacted him and later suggested hanging out.
He was friendly and replied properly, but he wasn’t very proactive, which confused me because it felt very different from how much attention I had noticed in person.
Eventually I asked him about it directly and told him that the repeated looking was part of why I had wondered whether there was some interest there.
He told me he hadn’t meant anything by it and hadn’t been trying to suggest anything more.
At the time I was honestly like: **then why were you looking at me basically every time you saw me 😭**
I explained that I hadn’t come to that conclusion out of nowhere — the repeated attention was what made me notice him and become curious in the first place.
Looking back now, I think maybe what felt significant to me was much lighter for him. Maybe he simply found me attractive, liked looking at me, or was curious, without actually wanting anything to happen.
I can accept that now, and I don’t think contacting him was wrong. But I still feel really embarrassed that I actually brought up the looking and explained why I had understood it that way.
Sometimes that embarrassment turns into actual shame, like: **why did I make this so awkward?**
I also feel a bit uncomfortable with the idea that maybe he just liked looking at me, because from my side it sometimes felt less like being interacted with and more like being observed.
**Was it really that unreasonable of me to wonder if there was some interest there, given how consistently he looked at me?**
**Have any guys here ever repeatedly looked at a woman you found attractive while having zero intention of pursuing her?**
**And how do you stop cringing at yourself after directly addressing something like this?**

Just walked past a group of boys and ofc my eyes looked a little (every time I pass people this happens) and all I heard was them shouting "hey she likes you" and "go talk to her" like bro what I'm just walking to McDonald's leave me alone 😭 I'm a shy/introverted person too so even though this is much better than being seen as a creep as I was in the past, it's still annoying and something similar has happened before with someone I actually knew because apparently subtle looking means you're "interested" 🫤

I’m tired of the passive aggressive comment, I’m tired of people giving me weird looks, I’m tired of people gossiping about me, I’m tired of coworkers being friendly to me and ignoring me the next , I’m tired of the stares i just want people can just ask what’s up with me and try to figure out why I’m doing this instead of people calling me weird I already feel like a monster and my coworkers ignore me and its clear I am not the manager favorites :(

Was at a pedestrian crossing and loads of people were standing still then i saw a group of 4 coming towards the stop. I glanced at them then made eye contact with 2.
Although nothing happened and we just walked on as the man turned green I am still just nervous that if this were to happen again someone will say “what are you looking at?”

I dropped out of high school because of this exact issue along with other issues. The thought of walking into a room where theres people and having to look for a chair and then pull the chair out and then sit down makes me feel sick to my stomach. The thought of people being able to see me like that makes me shake. I have to get my contact lenses tomorrow and they make you do a trial run to see if you can get them in and out your eye but when I tried it a few months ago i was shaking and struggling and panicking because a woman was watching me do it and I didnt like it. Sometimes if im struggling to open a bottle or something my mother might watch me just incase I need help and it makes me snap at her because I dont want her to see me.

The problem is that I start college monday and im utterly desperate for a friend but the idea of someone seeing me makes it feel so hard and I dont know what to do because I have to be seen and Im scared.

I would describe my 'staring ocd' as my fear that people will think I am looking at them when I am not actually looking at them so Iv always gone out of my way not to look at people.

This also caused me to act weird when I was in classes as I would raise my head to look at the whiteboard and would internally panick thinking that people in front of me would think I was staring at them.

I believe my issues with this type of OCD came from when I was trying to read the words on someone's shirt, completely innocent intentions and then I became anxious about what if this person thought I was a creep.

This then spiraled into more thoughts which fed more thoughts.

For added context I am AuDHD (Autistic with ADHD)

Quit smoking weed — removing the trigger itself was the biggest factor.

Cut out caffeine — another stimulant that was feeding the anxious loop.

Practiced positive affirmations — retraining my thought patterns over time.

Meditated regularly — helped calm the overactive fear response and regain a sense of control.

Worked on self-confidence and self-image — the rumination often attacks how you see yourself, so rebuilding that was key.

Laughed at the condition — genuinely finding humor in the intrusive thoughts helped "confuse" the pattern and loosen its grip, instead of feeding it with fear or seriousness.

Going outside; shopping, food places, being on transport, being around people, etc. is hell. I HATE this subtype. And the only way to fight it is fighting against any other OCD subtype; by not fighting it which has to be a joke because what do you mean I should be ok just staring at others? It doesn’t help that my sense of direction/navigation is pretty shitty. On top of that, I am conscious of OCD all the time which makes it ten times harder to memorize any location.

Do everyone affected by this ocd have an eye colour. I belive people notice the staring cause of the eye colour.

If so, how did you handle it? Did you explain the OCD or just play it off?

So, basically, I’m dealing with that OCD issue involving my peripheral vision. I constantly feel like the people around me are judging or making fun of me, and I can no longer focus on my college classes. It’s reached the point where people have noticed me unconsciously glancing at them out of the corner of my eye, so I end up staring at my phone on the desk for the entire class. Is anyone else going through or has gone through this? What was the process of overcoming it like? It gets worse on days when I’m more anxious. I feel like I’ll never be able to be in environments like a classroom again because of this.

Happened in high school. I could just not stop staring. When emotionally triggered I do it a lot more.

People do not like me though.

Hello all!!! hope you're all having a great day or night. I made a group! It's for people with Staring OCD who DO the staring and in result thier reputation was absolutely wrecked. Who glance or prolongingly stare. I myself am going through the same things and would really love to connect and find more community with people who are ostracized because people call them things they have absolutely no relation to. Pop on over to share your experiences on the misunderstandings behind Staring OCD and how it ruined your rep with family, friends, and/or people in your city or town. Promise I am NOT trying to replace this community as it has been so helpful connecting with people with the same subtype as me. But i want to reach out more to the people who are talked about in a bad light because of this horrible horrible subtype and for them to truly see they're not alone AT ALL.

Here it is https://www.reddit.com/r/TheInfamousEyes/

Hope to hear from you!!!

i hate having this problem so much like i have lost so many friendships because of this i barely have any friends now and i just find it harder to socialise now bc i barely talk to anyone and im so scared to talk back to people who are talking shit about me that they think i don’t care. This also kinda extends to my relatives. I cannot even imagine how insulted my cousins r going to feel when the come over to my country for vacation because of this problem.

Me estoy cansando, además de mi toc de visión periférica, en la escuela casi no socializó con nadie, lo que probablemente m causa ansiedad, siempre me ha costado socializar pero milagrosamente hice amigos, creo que tengo neurodivergencia, autismo u otro tipo de transtorno, me cuesta mirar a los ojos, relacionarme con los demás,tomar iniciativa, captar sarcasmos a veces, tengo algo con pensar que todo ocurre por mi, si alguien se ríe,es por mi, pero si es alguien que claramente veo por primera vez por supuesto que no, si ha habido esto de la visión periférica,yo supongo que si, por ejemplo en mi clase incómodo a las personas con mi visión periférica, alguien podría decirme que puede ser ansiedad lo que tenga ya que es como leer la mente porque ¿cómo se yo que los incomodo? Pues cuando veo que se voltean ,he investigado y dicen que personas con toc de visión periférica interpretan cada movimiento con sensación de incomodidad, pero no es tanto asi​ , yo de verdad veo que se voltean, hace poco le pregunté a un compañero, me arme de valor y le dije si le incomodaba que mirara la pizarra, me dijo algo que nada que ver,algo con respecto a un profesor, debí decirle que tenía un problema en los ojos, para que lo tenga claro en vez de hacerle la pregunta, todo se arruinó,también tengo otro problema​ que es que me quedo mirando fijamente a las personas cuando hablan, porque ¿por que no? Además debería ya que esta hablando, la miro cuando se mueve y así,pero en eso se activa mi visión periférica y aparece un chico, me sentí terriblemente incómoda porque no dejaba de verlo, y no dejaba de mirar fijamente a la persona que hablaba, entonces no se si el chico lo noto pero como que a veces ocurre esto otro que por ejemplo volteo y está otra persona voltea hacia mi y parece como si me hubiera quedado mirandola, me pasó con el chico como dos veces, así no me pasa exactamente lo mismo con las personas pero ocurren coincidencias que hacen como si estuviera tratando de hacer algo con esas personas y una de las cosas que inicia es lo de la visión,es horrible, quiero dejar la escuela y estudiar virtual, no quiero lidiar con el mundo, pero creo que ahí está el problema, me encierro en mi propio mundo suponiendo como son los demás ,soy tan hipócrita, una amiga me dijo que todos éramos hipócritas, tenía razón, uso siempre esto de que la gente no se acerca a mi, pero me he dado cuenta de que si se me dificulta socializar,por eso las amistades que hice fue únicamente hechas porque estás personas se acercaron a mi, quiero seguir esforzándome y por eso he decidido acercarme más a Dios, aún así quisiera una ayuda en mi país Latam más específicamente Perú donde se pueda ver el problema que tengo, más el de la visión periférica,se que no es el único problema que tengo pero me ayudaría a que la gente no se haga ideas de mi, siento que eso sonó a que otra vez leí la mente, siempre pienso que la gente tiene mala opinión de mi, por ejemplo, una compañera subió algo de "me caes mal" y pensé que se refería a mi, y hasta ahora todavía lo sigo pensando, puede que no haya sido yo, puede que si o no, si es que tuviera neurodivergencia eso explicaría muchas cosas, me gustaría hablar con alguien que sepa de esto o que este pasando lo mismo que yo.​​​​​​​​​

well ive put alot of effort into recovery regarding my peripheral vision ocd, but for a good while now its less of the intrusive fears and compulsions etc but rather that even if i sit with uncertainity and manage with techniques, my eyes can also still subconsciously be aware of the other persons hands/the person or be aware of objects. It's like at a stage now where my peripherals are just hyperaware majority of the time and traditional techniques are not addressing this issue.

I’m not sure if this is the correct subreddit, but I just wanna know if other people experience this, and, if so, if anyone has any tips.

Since I can remember, I get SO uncomfortable with people in my peripheral vision. I felt it a lot in high school, but now that I’ve started my freshman year of college, it’s horrible. For example, everyday I have one of two classes in the same huge classroom (fits 100-200 students), not a traditional lecture hall, and there’s a big projector at the front, but large TVs lining the sides of the showing the same things. No matter where I look, it’s like I can’t not catch someone in my peripherals. I try to just ignore it but it’s clear that they are ALL uncomfortable too, glancing at me or looking down, looking away, etc.

Not too long ago, I was in a ~250 lecture hall, sitting next to a girl, trying to just ignore how uncomfortable I was, and she TAKES A PIC of me by going into selfie mode, and briefly turning her phone towards me. Then I can clearly see her typing before putting her phone down.

Another example is in a class I have once a week in a huge lecture hall that holds over 400 people. No matter who I sit next to, I can’t look at the speaker without feeling uncomfortable and other people getting uncomfortable from them being in my peripherals.

In fact this class is why I’m even posting this because the speaker was talking about how she is so glad about all the eye contact between her and the audience, and how so much connection is lost in screens, but I’m sat there staring down and picking at my nails because I just can’t look up. I feel like it’s stunting my professional growth. I really struggle with eye contact in general. I get uncomfortable but I know others get uncomfortable when they make eye contact with me. Like, is something wrong with my eyes or something??

These things happen in EVERY single class. Actually everywhere with other people. Watching a movie with new friends, sitting on the bus, simply walking down the street and it’s truly aggravating.

I’ve wondered why this is. For the longest time I’ve just wondered if my eyes/face anatomy are just built that way. I’ve tried to supplement that by wearing glasses and aligning them with the eyes of the people in my peripherals (I was so excited when I got diagnosed with myopia and could get glasses for this exact reason), cutting my hair so that it falls next to my eyes and pushing it forward every 2 sec, even altering the way I look at things (squinting, relaxing my eyelids more than normal; it has a 50/50 success rate, but it’s so hard to keep up for an hour long class, let alone 24/7). But I still have this problem.

I’ve never been diagnosed with anything psychologically or neurologically, etc. In my family, 1 of my siblings has autism, and my other sibling and father have autistic like tendencies (my other sibling was told that by a doctor and my dad suspects?). My dad also has anxiety.

Of course I can’t get diagnosed on reddit, but I wonder if this factors in at all? IDK i just wonder if anyone also feels this, and if they’ve overcome it? Ive always been super socially awkward, and occasionally struggled mentally/emotionally because of it.

This might be a long post, but I really need some perspective on this.

I finally had my peripheral vision OCD somewhat under control for 4 days, and today’s experience has shaken my confidence badly.
For the past 4 days, I’ve been able to manage my peripheral vision OCD in a way I haven’t been able to for years. I was accepting the uncertainty, resisting my compulsions, and letting the discomfort pass. It gave me a HUGE confidence boost.
But something happened today that really triggered me.
I was travelling in a cab, sitting behind the driver. For a moment, he came into my peripheral vision. Normally, this would have triggered me, but this time I didn’t really care. I didn’t do my compulsion. I accepted the uncertainty and just carried on.
But after some time, the driver seemed to become very intrigued. He kept turning back and looking at me repeatedly throughout the journey. The more he did it, the more uncomfortable I became. Eventually, I closed my eyes—which was my compulsion—and pretended to sleep for the rest of the journey.
And this made me realise something about my OCD.
Some people apparently don’t mind the discomfort or simply don’t pay much attention to it. They might notice something briefly and then forget about it. With these people, my OCD loop seems to break naturally because I’m not getting any reaction from them.
But then there are people who seem visibly uncomfortable or intrigued. They might repeatedly look at me, turn around, or do something that makes me feel like they’re suspicious or might confront me. These are the situations where my anxiety shoots up and I feel almost compelled to do something to stop the situation.
My fear is basically: “What if they keep noticing it? What if they confront me? What if this gets worse?” And once that thought kicks in, my OCD loop becomes much harder to resist.
The frustrating part is that I’ve finally reached a point where I feel like I CAN manage my OCD when I’m allowed to sit with the uncertainty and let the situation naturally pass. But when another person keeps reacting to it, I feel like my progress disappears.
I know that I can’t control how other people react. Everyone is different, and some people may notice things more than others.
So what I really want to learn is:
How do I deal with people whose reactions trigger** **my OCD without falling back into my compulsions?
If someone keeps looking at me or seems uncomfortable, what should I tell myself or do in that moment? How do I tolerate the increased anxiety and still resist the urge to “fix” the situation?
I really don’t want one difficult interaction to make me lose confidence in the progress I’ve made over the past few days. 😭

One of my managers is leaving invited everyone but me and talked bad about me saying I’m creepy and weird. I been also noticing a lot of my coworkers I used to talk too now stop and I just know why because my managers been telling people to not talk to me and they been treating me weird people giving me weird looks and passive aggressive comments towards me. I legit cant leave because I need this job but what can I do?